Passionate living and truth-telling techné

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dc.contributor.author Hurst, Andrea
dc.date.accessioned 2009-07-03T07:25:44Z
dc.date.available 2009-07-03T07:25:44Z
dc.date.issued 2007
dc.description.abstract It is a commonplace among philosophers that we actualize our humanity most fully by “living a creative life,” and that creativity is the response to desire or passion. In this article, I argue that Plato’s “cave allegory,” important limitations notwithstanding, provides the paradigm for a philosophical understanding of what this means, and by extension, how this call to be passionately is a call to live life as a work of truth-telling techné (art). To demonstrate that Plato’s characterization of passionate living remains viable as a structure for understanding the artist’s task, despite his notorious dismissal of certain forms of art, I consider how Heidegger confirms and updates it via his more contemporary existential analyses of “everydayness” and “anxiety” in Being and Time. Importantly, however, Plato’s conception of the “truth” that we ardently seek, and desire to share through truth-telling techné, is open to challenge. One may justifiably disagree with his articulation of “truth” and transcendent beauty on grounds of the shift from transcendence to immanence in ontology, and the correlative shift from economy to complexity in understanding “truth.” This is where the notions of “the beautiful,” “the ugly,” and “the sublime” come into play. It is disagreements concerning the nature of the ultimate object of human passion that fuel disagreements concerning the truth to be told in truth-telling techné and, arguably, the kind of techné most suited to this task. Yet there is widespread agreement concerning the perspicacity of Plato’s distinction between “truth-telling” techné and the mere imitation of what already exists. This distinction is used here to round out the above account of what it means to live a creative life by contrasting such a life with its opposite, which one may call “kitsch.” en_US
dc.description.abstract HARTSTOGTELIKE LEWE EN WAARHEIDSGEORIENTEERDE techné. Filosowe aanvaar geredelik dat mense hul menslikheid optimaal aktualiseer deur ’n “kreatiewe lewe te lei,” en dat kreatiwiteit die antwoord is op begeerte of passie. In hierdie artikel argumenteer ek dat Plato se “grot-allegorie,” in weerwil van belangrike beperkinge, die paradigma voorsien vir ’n filosofiese verstaan van bogenoemde stellung, en verder verduidelik in watter sin hierdie oproep om hartstogtelik te wees, neerkom op ’n uitnodiging om ’n mens se lewe as ’n waarheidsgeoriënteerde techné (kunswerk) te leef. Ten einde te demonstreer dat Plato se karakteriseering van hartstogtelike lewe, ten spyte van sy berugte verwerping van sekere kunsvorms, geskik is as ’n struktuur om die kunstenaar se taak te begryp, word aangetoon hoe Heidegger dit bevestig en opdateer aan die hand van sy meer tydgenoodlike, eksistensiële analises van “alledaagsheid” en “angs” in Sein und Zeit. Dit is egter belangrik om daarop te let dat Plato se opvatting van die “waarheid” wat ons so naarstiglik soek, en begeer om via waarheidsgeoriënteerde techné in te deel, aanvegbaar is. ’n Mens kan tereg van hom verskil ten opsigte van sy formulering van “waarheid” en transendente skoonheid op grond van die ontologiese verskuiwing vanaf transendensie na immanensie, asook die korrelatiewe verskuiwing van ekonomie na kompleksiteit in die begrip van waarheid. Dit is hier waar die begrippe van “die skone,” “die lelike,” en die “sublieme” op die spel geplaas word. Meningsverskille ten opsigte van die waarheid wat betrokke is by waarheidsgeoriënteerde techné – die geskikste soort techné vir die taak van waarheidsbevordering – word gevoed deur meningsverskille oor die aard van die hoogste voorwerp van menslike passie. En tog is daar breë instemming oor die skerpsinnigheid van Plato se onderskeid tussen waarheidsgeoriënteerde techné, en die blote nabootsing van wat reeds bestaan. Genoemde onderskeid word hier benut om bogenoemde weergawe van die betekenis van ’n kreatiewe lewe af to rond deur ’n sodanige lewe met die teendeel daarvan, wat as “kitsch” beskryf kan word, te kontrasteer en_US
dc.identifier.citation Hurst, A 2007, 'Passionate living and truth-telling techné', South African Journal of Art History, vol. 22, no 3, pp 30-45. [http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_sajah.html] en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0258-3542
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/10636
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Art Historical Work Group of South Africa en_US
dc.rights Art Historical Work Group of South Africa en_US
dc.subject Imitation en_US
dc.subject Kitsch en_US
dc.subject Passion en_US
dc.subject Cave allegory en_US
dc.subject Truth-telling techné en_US
dc.subject Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976 en_US
dc.subject Plato en_US
dc.title Passionate living and truth-telling techné en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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